Kyoda.
I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by The New Zealand Herald. In the new science fiction film Mickey seventeen, Robert Pattinson's character Mickey Barnes is killed, and each time he dies, a new copy of his body is printed out. It's a classic far flung sci fi premise, but the technology it's based on is far more science than fiction. Three D bioprinting is a technology that uses three D printing to create
tissues and organs from living cells and biomaterials. The technology has been evolving rapidly over the last couple of decades. So how far away are we from printing out multiple Robert Pattinson's Today on the front Page, University of Queensland's professor Sarshaw Ivanovsky joins us to break down three D bioprinting, where the technology is at and what its future looks like. So this sounds like the kind of thing that would only be possible in a sci fi movie or something.
But what exactly are we talking about when we talk about three D bioprinting.
Well, I think most of us are familiar with the concept of three D printing and this is an extension of that. But just to I guess to be clear about what three D printing is about, or what the definition of three D printing is. It is essentially the creation of a three D object, but it is an
additive manufacturing technique, so that's really important to understand. It is a technique that's where equipment is used to create a three D structure in a lay by layer fashion, and it's always from a data file, so it's always from some sort of digital data file. So those are three parameters three D object, a layer by layer deposition
type of fabrication, and a digital file that informs the shape. Now, three D by printing is a special because it involves the printing of actual cells, so it's kind of a living structure that is being printed from a bioling which contains cells.
How long has this technology been around? I feel like I'm still getting my head around the regular three D printing and now you're throwing this at me.
Well, this section is not that new. It is something that's been around as a concept for quite a while. I think it's been about twenty five years. Nineteen ninety nine was the first time it was reported, so it's been it's been with us for a while, but obviously there's been a lot of work and a lot of refinement together to this stage.
What are we currently able to print?
Well? When it comes to three D buy printing, there is a lot of experimental work. Essentially just about any type of tissue or organ can be printed in the laboratory. Probably the most common thing that's printed and is the closest to to clinical translation is skin, as a skin is a relatively obviously quite quite a thin structure and relatively simple in its in its composition, so it is probably the one tissue that's the closest to clinical translation.
But even more complex things like liver and bladder and teeth for example, are things that have been three D five printed in the laboratory.
Right, So whose genetic data is used in the printed material.
Well, the printing involves cells, So the cells can cans. As with all research, can come from different areas. So that could be from a commercial cell line, cell line that's that's widely available and sold commercially for any type of scientific experimentation. Then it can also be from from specific sources, from animals, from some humans, from patients so it really depends on aid application and the type of
reasons that's being carried out. I should point out that cell culture, the growing of cells in the laboratory is a very well established an all technique, so growing cells per se is not new. It's just that printing them into a predetermined through D shape is the novelty.
Here, we can model tissue models that have capillary sized blood vessels in them. These vascular structures can be used as a delivery system for drugs to disease tissue exactly as it happens in the body. We then have the ability to analyze a realistic piece of diseased human tissue as if we are treating the disease in the body.
This can do.
Wonders, gentifying those drugs that will fail in clinical trials before they ever get there, deresking that stat.
Could the body reject the printed material, you know, like when we see we're a kidney or liver transplant.
Yes, absolutely, And that's why it's taken such a long time for this to reach the clinic. In fact, it is not really widely available. It's because there is that possibility of rejection. You know, some people envision the very first type of three D printed organs to be closely matched to the tissue type of the patient and maybe even be taken from cells from the same patient and then be reimplanted after they're grown outside, and then three
D printed and reimplanted in the same patient. So anytime you're taking tissues or cells from another person or even another species and implanting them into someone else, there is a high possibility of rejection.
Have we seen any successful scenarios where something has been three D bioprinted and successfully been used on a patient.
It's fairly rare. So when we really think about even three D printing, let's put aside for one minute three D bioprinting. Three D printing when using the biomedical space, it's usually used for modeling or templating tissues so we can look at them and plan, but rarely do we transplant. There is now more and more implantation of certain types of three D printed devices, usually in orthopedics made from titanium, for example. That is something that's being done more and more.
But if we're thinking about the category of implantables that are also resolving, which means that the original material that carries the cells or the original material that's implant that gets over time replaced by patient's own tissue. That's fairly rare in itself. And of course with three D bar printing, that material actually contains cells, so that adds an extra
element of complexity to it. So you can see that the idea of three D printing and implantable device that contains cells can be very, very complex for some of the reasons that we just talked about before, such as rejection, but it has been done, and probably skin transplantation three D printed skin transplantation is the closest. Well, it's the one area that's probably best developed and has been trialed in humans.
So how far a way away if I have a problem with my heart, how far there are way away for you to take my cells, print me a new one and then put it in and it work.
Yeah, So I think the heart would be right up there in terms of complexity. So that's probably the furtherest away from a clinical application. And look, it's somewhat speculative, but I think the consensus would be we're looking at probably another twenty to thirty years before that can be predictably done and be available for everyday clinical application.
What about the ethical concerns of three D bioprinting. Will this kind of life saving technology be so expensive that it's only able to be afforded to the wealthy.
Yeah, so I think that's definitely an ethical concern. So the accessibility to this type of care. As with any new and innovative technologies, especially when they did require a high level of I guess regulation and a high level of technology, they become expensive. So access to care for this type of technologies is certainly a challenge. I mean, I would say that initially, for sure, that would definitely
be the case. But like with any technology, once it becomes more mainstream and more people use it, there is innovation that also then drives the higher throughput, the higher than decreases fabrication costs, and you know, more more of these devices are made, and it's and it's and then the cost tends to drop. But initially, for sure, it's it's a major accessibility is a major, major issue, I
mean from ethical point of view. Also, safety is certainly a big issue because it is it is complex and requires a lot of care to make these type of three D bar printed structures. So the possibility of things going wrong along the way, contaminations, for example, rejections that we talked about are high. And I guess the other
ethical concern that's been raised is also enhanced performance. So while I think most of us would accept that if you've got something that's diseased or missing and replacing it with something that can like, for like replace that function, that's a great thing. But once we start talking about enhanced function beyond what is normal, then ethical concerns about performance enhancement in sports people or more generally becomes also an issue. So that's that's another ethical concern.
As you were saying that, I was thinking, are they going to have issues that I don't know, the Olympics thirty twenty four or something with this kind of thing.
Yeah, well, that's absolutely a possibility. We've had those sort of issues before, where you know, certainly people with disabilities, for example, have had replacements and maybe have given them sometimes an unreasonable or unfair advantage or something that's been considered unfair. Or able bodied athletes, the same thing could happen an enhancement that get raise its performance beyond what is what is considered normal.
As bizarre it might sound, there is no theoretically proven limit to longevity. We could live forever. Well, we don't, because we are like a automobile. We have parts and those parts get worn off and at some point, for some reason, eventually we disappear. But what if we could indeed replace our organs with the bioprinted once, could we could live forever. That's up to you to decide whether you want to do that or not. Even if this
is possible, it's going to take a long time. So don't smoke too much, don't drink too much, because we're not yet there to give you a new heart or a new liver.
So what are we expecting to say into what's the next major breakthrough? What milestones do we have to hit before this becomes a norm.
Look, that's a good question. That's probably a number of things that need to be solved. I guess A big part of the by printing is the bio ink. So the material that actually carries our cells is incredibly important because the cells, even though bar printing is defined by the presence of cells, it's actually the cells have to stay alive and that's very dependent on the bioinks that
carry those cells. And there is an awful lot of work that needs to be done in that space in terms of the material being easy to use and accurate and friendly to the cells and friendly to the recipient patient. So I think the bioing needs to be resolved. The source of the cells needs to be resolved. Like any cell therapies, there is issues around where do you get the cells? Is it just from the patient themselves and
put it back into them? That's fine, but then then that's very customized treatment, which which carries large amount of costs. So can you get cells more readily available and standardized for this sort of treatment and do that in an ethical way, in a safe way. And then the material and the fabrication and that the equipment required to print in a deal world, that should be readily accessible. Every hospital of any size should be able to produce those
organs or tissues. And that's not widely available at the moment. It's it's certainly a very expensive and concentrated in a few areas of manufacturing. Yes, I think the machines that make the structures the cells and sufficient number of readily available cells, and then the carriers, the bioinks that carry the cell, these are areas that we all they all require quite a lot of work before this can be widely available.
Right, so at least a couple of decades, you think.
I would I would think so, yes. I mean that that really the consensus within the field twenty thirty is a reasonable time frame for widespread use. I mean there is always going to be cases here and there which which utilize these technologies, and that's why we hear about them. We know proof of concept is possible to do it, but in terms of more widespreaduce, we're looking at decades.
Yes, So finish And if you'll just indulge me for a second, if we skip ahead about one hundred or two hundred years and just dream a little bit, where could this technology be by then do you reckon?
Well?
I think the idea would definitely be to avoid the need for transplantation of organs that we can we can pretty much create any organ within a laboratory environment and then and then implant it into into a patient. And look, we have seen some of this in science fiction movies where where that that can actually take place at the point of treatment. So someone, for example, you know, as an accident loses an arm, the doctor is able to have a device which can three D print another arm
that can then be attached to the living body. That's I guess you know, if we're really dreaming where this technology could ultimately lead. The idea is that, yes, you can three D print, You can do it very quickly, and it can be highly by compatible, and it can certainly save lives.
Thanks for joining us, Sasha.
Thank you, thank you for the opportunity.
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at NZ Herald dot co dot MZ. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sells and Richard Martin, who is also a sound engineer. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to The Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in to Morrow for another look behind the headlines.